Jonathan Talbot Workshop

I need to do this before I forget the details. I was at the allergist's office on Tuesday after school waiting to see the doctor. I took that time and wrote down little notes for myself about what happened and what he talked about. I was amazed how much I learned about him in two days. His demeanor and his personality is so different from other artists and their workshops. I wondered if it is because his day job is being an artist. So many of us have day jobs which are a departure from art. I would like my only day job to be an artist one day.

Jonthan was very generous with the supplies. He also brought things to be sold that he uses in his workshops. He is efficient in the sense that he has everything needed and ready for the workshop. Do not expect him to be one to hurry you along to the next thing. He was also very flexible on time on the first day. He was a great hostess. He brought us snackies for breakfast and for during the day on both days. He also takes power naps to refresh himself while we are busy completing a project.

The first day started out a little slowly for me. He spent a lot of time getting to know our names and to find out what we wanted to get out of the workshop. We started out working on mat board and created collages using polymer medium and a tack iron. Putting the polymer medium on was kinda messy work. Some also did transfers. Polymer medium and heat is a great way to do transfers. I really recommend getting his acrylic image transfer paper. The back of the paper comes off easily and there is way less residue than with other kinds of paper. I did one serendipity collage where I will cut it into smaller pieces. Jonathan was nice enough to cut small mat windows out for me. I will scan that and put that on when I am ready to cut it into smaller pieces. Some people stayed very late that evening. I went home pretty early since I had not seen the kids all day. Cindy and I were pretty tired, too. I had been sick the night before and was still feeling pretty bad throughout the day.

The second day started out kind of rushed. I woke up feeling much more human. I got up at 6 am feeling like I had all the time in the world. I sat down to check my e-mail and saw that it was 7 am. I forgot about the time change! I ran around and got ready. I called Cindy and then rushed out the door. We finished up the collages from the first day and then did mini collages on watercolor paper. Instead of it being just collage, we used paint and other elements. I did mine with "line" in mind since I was doing a line exercise in Collage Explorations this week. In between, we did a composition exercise. I also brought in my mail art collection so other people could see what mail art was.

Out of the two days, I enjoyed the second day more. I like the mini collages more because I can do them quickly and without too much thought. I like to start several at once and see where it takes me. I found out how much I like the gold foil. It really adds to the finished product. I went a little nuts with it in one of my collages. I think that I will have to cut that down.

Was it worth it? Definitely. I had taken a similar workshop last month learning this collage technique last month at Artful Gatherings. I still wanted to take this workshop to meet Jonathan Talbot and to see what I could learn from him. I learned quite a few new things. Some art related and some not.